Business briefs

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Pending sales of single-family homes and condos in Massachusetts rose for the 19th straight month in November, a Realtors group reported yesterday.

Purchase-and-sales agreements were signed for 3,866 homes last month, a 28 percent increase from November 2011, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said. Pending sales of condos increased nearly 29 percent over the year, to 1,438 units. On a month-to-month basis, pending sales of homes and condos fell from October to November.

Trisha McCarthy, president of the Realtors association, said the numbers show buyer optimism during a month that included a major election and fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington.

Pending sales are an indicator of home sales over the next two to three months.

WASHINGTON — After years of battling each other on trade issues, U.S. and European officials are contemplating a dramatic change in direction: joining together in what could be the world's largest free trade pact in an attempt to boost their struggling economies.

Discussions are in the most preliminary of stages and there would be significant obstacles to overcome, including sharp differences on agriculture, food safety and climate change legislation. Still, top EU and U.S. officials have said they want to see it happen. And America's main labor group, often the biggest opponent of U.S. trade pacts, says it wouldn't stand in the way.

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled the Obama administration's interest during a speech on trans-Atlantic relations.

“If we get this right, an agreement that opens markets and liberalizes trade would shore up our global competitiveness for the next century, creating jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars for our economies,” Clinton said.

European officials, including EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht, have also expressed enthusiasm. Both sides are awaiting a report within weeks by a working group they appointed to study the issue. A positive recommendation could lead to negotiations early next year.

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the sale of most of the assets of failed battery maker A123 Systems Inc. of Waltham, Mass., to the U.S. arm of Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group Corp. for nearly $257 million.

In asking Judge Kevin Carey to approve the sale, attorneys for A123 noted that the winning bid submitted by Wanxiang America Corp. last week was more than double an initial $125 million offer for the company's automotive battery unit by Milwaukee-based auto parts marker Johnson Controls Inc.

Even though A123's defense-related business assets will be sold separately for $2.25 million to Navitas Systems of Woodridge, Ill., Wanxiang's purchase still requires approval by the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal interagency committee that reviews sales of U.S. companies to foreign owners.

An attorney for A123 told Carey that the initial 30-day review period for CFIUS expires today, and that the panel plans to continue its investigation during a 45-day extension, meaning a decision may not come until mid-January.

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers advertised more jobs in October than September, a hopeful sign that hiring could pick up in the coming months.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings rose by 128,000 to 3.68 million. That's the most since June.

The number of available jobs is slowly climbing back to the roughly 4 million that were advertised each month before the recession began in December 2007.

With nearly 12.3 million people unemployed in October, there were 3.3 unemployed people, on average, competing for each open job. That's the lowest ratio since November 2008. Still, in a healthy economy, the ratio is roughly 2-to-1.

In one positive sign, the number of available construction jobs jumped to 130,000, from 82,000 in September. That's the most in more than four years. The housing market is slowly recovering and builders are breaking ground on more single-family homes.

Job openings also rose in manufacturing, retail, and hotels and restaurants. Professional and business services also posted more openings.